William Wailes (1808-1881)

Established in 1838, William Wailes's stained-glass
firm in Newcastle-on-Tyne
became one of the largest in the country. It followed Thomas
Willement's, already established in London, and preceded two other
big studios that sprang up soon afterwards, as churches and cathedrals
were restored, and many new churches built. John Hardman and Co. in Birmingham
were persuaded to start stained glass production in the next decade,
while Charles Eamer Kempe started
his own business in London in 1866.

Wailes himself had been a tea-dealer and grocer with an interest in
landscape painting. When he set up his business for painted or stained
glass, his rates were modest. A. W. N. Pugin found
him considerably cheaper than Thomas Willement, so in 1841 he started
sending his designs to Wailes instead, writing to his patron Lord
Shrewsbury on one occasion in March 1843, "I sent Wailes £50 and
he writes for more. I do not believe he has a shilling to pay wages
from week to week. perhaps this is so much the better. I can keep him
to it" (Letters II: 31). A couple of years
later, Pugin took his custom to Hardman's instead. He had more control
of the process there, since his assistant John Hardman Powell was
Hardman's nephew.

But Wailes was well-established by now and continued to thrive even
without Pugin's orders. In 1850, The
Ecclesiologist referred to him as "the eminent artist" (19),
and by 1851 he had 76 men working for him, a size of operation
"unprecedented in the history of English glass-painting" (Cheshire
40). His windows, very much in tune with the times in their Gothic Revival
style, shimmered with colour, and were popular. Wailes must have had
plenty of shillings by 1862, when he built a Gothic/Elizabethan
extravaganza for himself, with French touches: Saltwell Towers, in
Gateshead, set in beautiful parkland. However, he had overreached
himself: business declined, and in 1876 he had to sell his estate to
the council, leasing it back for his lifetime (see "Saltwell
Park").

Inevitably, Wailes's style changed with the years, later becoming
more narrative in composition. After he died in 1881, the firm
continued under his son-in-law Thomas Rankine Strang, now as Wailes
and Strang, probably with Wailes's daughter Margaret Strang taking
over the design side. Recent restoration has made his house and park
one of Gateshead's premier tourist attractions: the house is used an
exhibition centre and events venue, and the park is open to the
public. But, like Kempe's, his name is still not as widely known as it
ought to be, considering the number of churches and cathedrals in
which his windows can be found.